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AERIAL view of Sandia's Central Receiver Test Facility — the Power mirrors to focus radiation from celestial and atmospheric events onto

Tower — was taken shortly before facility was completed. Experimental detectors as a possible means of detecting the explosion of black holes In

boilers have since been installed and testing is underway. An unusual space. Story on page 7.

night-time experiment was recently completed here, using the array of

VOL. 31, NO. 16 _ AUGUST 10, 1979

I SAWDIA LABORATORIES » AtBUQUEROUE NEW MEXICO » LIVERMORE CALIFORNIA « TONOPAH NEVADA

Oil & Geothwma! Wells

New Drill Bit Passes Major Test

BUSINESS END of chain drill bit. More
pronounced cutters are seen on bottom link,
centermost of the five links that constitute one drill
bit.

when one bit wears out, the operator is able to
trigger the replacement sequence through
manipulation of mud pump pressure. (“Mud"
is the fluid used to lubricate a drill bit and

(Coniifiuedon Page Three}

At the Nevada Test Site last month,
Sandia’s continuous-chain drill bit, in which
the cutting surface can be replaced while the
bit is still in the hole, was used to drill some
250 feet into an underlying granite formation.
This was the drill bit’s first major test in the
field. Says Sam Varnado, supervisor of
Drilling Technology Division 4741, “Results
were super — all we had hoped for. Our bit
drilled the 250 feet with six link sets giving us
an average of 41 feet per set. That compares
with an average of 28 feet that we obtained
with a conventional drill bit in the same
formation.’’

Economic implications of the new drill
bit are significant for the oil and geothermal
industries, especially as wells are drilled ever
deeper (some go down more than five miles).
When a conventional drill bit wears out

downhole, the entire pipe assemblage (drill
stem) has to be withdrawn from the well,
segment by segment, until the drill bit is
reached. The new bit is installed, and the
process is then repeated — in reverse. On deep
wells significant cost is associated with this
replacement procedure.

With the Sandia chain drill bit, the worn
bit is replaced downhole, as many as IS times.
Many time-consuming and expensive trips to
the surface are thus avoided.

A key element in the device is the special
chain. The links do not resemble those of a
conventional chain but, rather, have a wide
convex surface in which diamonds are
mounted for cutting purposes. Five adjacent
links constitute one drill bit, and up to 75 links
may form the continuous chain. The assembly
is spring loaded before going downhole and.

Afterthoughts

Sacred horse (cont.) —Last issue I questioned the dominance of the
horse in the State Fair and have since been scolded, lectured, told
to retract and/or apologize and, finally, accused of falling off is^
bicycle on my head. Horses have been justified and exalted in terms
of keeping kids off the streets, having ridden one back and forth to
school, being a big business in New Mexico, and even, so help me,
being an energy saver. The Secretary of the New Mexico Cutting Horse
Assn, writes: "No big ranch can function without a string of good
horses. The working horse who earns his keep is very much a part of
the 20th century..." Well now, considering the appetite, stamina and
disposition of the horse, most ranchers would be better off trading
in that string for a Honda 90 trail bike which will go faster, far¬
ther and cheaper, as well as into places a horse can't (or won't) go.
And it doesn't kick and bite and wander off into the night. True,
you don't evoke quite the same image astride your Honda, but is
"image" the basis of owning and riding a horse? Meanwhile, horse
lovers, read what the man said— not to do away with the horse at the
Fair, but only to give a fair shake to the many other activities in
which New Mexicans of today partake. (The letter from the Cutting
Horse Assn, had a dynamite closing: "How many people do you think
would turn out to watch a backpacking race?")

* * *

Hooray for Teller —If you had to choose a single word to describe
Edward Teller, I'd pick acerbic ("an astringency or sharpness of
manner"). At 71, Teller speaks out and did so in, of all things, the
August issue of Playboy . Some quotes: On nuclear power- "It has now
been proposed, by Jane Fonda and other experts, that all our reactors
be shut down. If they were, we would pay six billion dollars per year
more for imported oil. The dollar would depreciate further. All of
us would be even more dependent on the tender mercies of OPEC. If we
continue to build reactors, there's a much greater chance to break
the monopoly of OPEC—a monopoly that would never be tolerated in the
United States, incidentally." On the duty of intellectuals- "There
is one reason I particularly admire the Israelis. In the rest of the
world, practically without exception, there is a gulf between intel¬
lectuals and the rest of the people, most certainly between the intel¬
lectuals and the politicians. The one country where this gulf does
not exist is Israel. Israel was founded by intellectuals. When
they got to Israel, they found that they could not survive without
turning into peasants, but they stayed intellectuals as well.

...When they found that they'd be destroyed by the Arabs unless
they turned into soldiers, they turned into soldiers—but stayed
intellectuals. That is why they are so vital, why they continue to
exist." *js

PAGE TWO
LAB NEWS
AUGUST 10, 1978

Published every other Friday
SANDIA LABORATORfES
An Equal Opportunity Employer

ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO
LIVERMORE, CALIFORNIA
TONOPAH, NEVADA
Editorial offices in Albuquerque, N,M.

Area 505 264^1053

FIS 475-1053
ZIP 87185

In Livermore Area 415 422-2447

FTS 532-2447

John shunny is editor

don graham ass*L editor

chuck cockeireas A norma tayior write
biil laskar does picture work
aided by gerse inartinez

bruce hawkinson cS iorena schneider report iivermore.

DALLAS ALLEN (1244) shows off a few
credentials, the basis of his taking a sixth place in
the Mr. New Mexico contest held last week in the
Convention Center. Dallas claims most anyone
can develop a muscular physique. Then he
describes his regimen — two one-hour workouts a
day, six days a week and a careful watch over
diet. Next stop for Dallas is the Mr. Western States
contest.

BASIC ENGINEERING & SCIENCE — That's the
name of the course Suzanne Simpson (3726) is
getting some help on from Dan Fenstermacher
(2531). Usually called SP108S, the course Is
pursued at the student's pace, serves as an
introduction to other courses leading to tech
institute equivalency.

Opportunity Knocks

Qualifying for the challenging work of an
Engineering & Science Assistant (ESA) at
Sandia is not easy. One way is to be a graduate
of a recognized technical institute.

Another way, aimed at men and women
already on the roll at Sandia, is to gain a
technical institute equivalency through com¬
pletion of course work offered by the Labs’
Education & Training organization. This is an
ambitious program which takes five years to
complete (taking two courses per semester),
but its successful completion does bring
recognition by the Labs of equivalency to
technical institute graduation.

If you are interested, yet aren't really sure
you’re all that technical, then one way to find
out is to enroll in the Education Department’s
Basic Engineering and Science Concepts,
SP108S, a course in algebra, geometry, trig
and physics designed so that you study at
your own pace in a four-times-a-week session.
Tutors are available to assist when needed.

Since SP108S is a self-paced course, you
may enrol! at any time — like right now.
There are more details relating to this
program and, if you’re interested or have
questions, give Wilma Salisbury a call on 4-
6876.

Public Speaking
A Private Misery?

“You may not be able to completely
eliminate the feeling of butterflies in your
stomach when you speak before a group, but
you can at least learn to make them fly in
formation,’’ is how Frank Biggs (4231) puts it
in a note to LAB NEWS that tells about the
activities of his Toastmasters Club.

Now the group is meeting each
Wednesday at noon in Bldg. 815, brown
bagging it while listening to members do their
thing. Frank lists a number of specific benefits
deriving from Toastmaster membership;
controlling nervousness when speaking before
a group; more effective presentations and
improved ability to think-on-feet; improved
organization of thoughts; practice in leading
discussions and conducting meetings; and
learning to listen more effectively.

If you’re interested or just curious about
Toastmasters, Frank urges you to drop by a
meeting (any Wednesday except Sept. 26 and
Oct. 3). They won’t put you on the spot — you
can come by and simply listen. Questions: cal!
Frank on 4-7367 or 265-4661.

SANDIANS on the drilling site were (front) John Middleton (2325) and Jack St. Clair (4735), (back) Fred
Duimstra (2337), Lloyd Faucett (4741), and Kathy Porter (4735).

Continued from Page One

New Drill Bit
Passes Test

Hush out hole debris.) Replacement takes
about six minutes.

At the Nevada Test Site, the SLA test
crew consisted of Jack St. Clair, Lloyd
Faucett, Kathy Porter (all 4741), John
Middleton (2325) and Fred Duimstra (2337).
NTS Staff Division 1131 under B.G. Edwards
provided extensive support during the two-
week operation.

Development of the continuous-chain
drill bit has been underway since 1977, with
the focus of the work being in Drilling
Technology Division. Major contributions to
this successful development program were
made by people from Special Products
Division 2325 under Bob Fox and Controllers
& Switches Division 2337 under John Ford.
Sam Varnado and his people also worked
closely on the cutting surface design with
Christensen Diamond Products Co. of Salt
Lake City.

For the future, a follow-up field test is
planned for September at NTS. An industrial
partner is being sought to share the expense of
building and testing a larger diameter chain
drill in the size range of 6-14 to 8- Vi inch (vs.
the present 4-44 inch). And Sam Varnado
hopes that the word will get out. “We have a
drill bit here that could make a big difference
in future well drilling operations. But now we
have to let industry know that Sandia has this
new bit and what it can do.”

THE CHAIN of the chain drill bit is, in fact, the driil
bit; diamond cutters are mounted on the outside
surfaces of the individuai iinks. Five such iinks
constitute one driil bit, and the continuous chain
may possess up to 15 such bits.

DRILLING OPERATION at
Nevada Test Site ran two
weeks, used conventionai
drilling rig and pipe. Chain
drill bit performed
significantly better than a
conventional drill bit drtiling
through granite.

finback

Q. While TV news coverage of some
colioquia is inevitable, / don’t see why their
convenience should outweigh consideration of
the audience. In particular, TV cameras are
always set up in front of the left bank of seats,
thereby blocking the view of the speaker, the
screen, or both for many people.

A. Television coverage in the Bldg. 815
auditorium is difficult because of the limited
space down front. The problem is complicated
by the fact that most colioquia are video-taped
by our own Motion Picture Division, taking
up part of the available shooting space. If only
one station is covering a given program, the
camera crew can usually move over to one side
and avoid obstructing the view of the people
in the audience, but if more than one station
appears, we have real problems.

In reviewing the situation, based upon
your comments and our own concerns, we
have concluded that the best solution is to ban
TV coverage of such colioquia, except for
unusual situations, such as “TV coverage
requested by guest speaker.” We will advise
TV camera crews that they may interview the
speaker before or after, but not during the
program.

Thank you for your constructive
suggestions.

K.A. Smith — 3100

Q. Our Sandia phone book has maps of the
areas, but I find it most difficult to locate the
mobile office (MO) and temporary (T)
buildings. Could a list of these buildings be
included with the maps which would indicate the
location of the MO and T buildings, such as
“east of 880”? The list could be updated with
the regular directory changes.

A. We agree that a list showing location
of all MO’s (Mobile Offices) and T
(Temporary) buildings would be a useful
addition to the telephone directory, and this
list will be added as soon as practicable.
Thank you for your suggestion.

K.A. Smith — 3100

Q. I've observed two practices north of the
Wyoming gate that are sure to get somebody
hurt eventually: I. Bicyclists in the mornings
dart across two lanes of moving traffic to get
from the west side of Wyoming to the east side;
2. Motorists in the evening use the center
"turning” lane as an extra traffic lane, often
going 40 or 50 mph.

A. The Albuquerque Police Department,
which has jurisdiction over traffic matters
north of the KAFB Wyoming Gate, has been
apprised of the situations you describe.
Unfortunately, APD is presently unable to
have a mobile unit outside the gate every day.

Recognizing that some Sandia bicyclists
might be involved in an unsafe practice en
route to work, a member of our Safety
organization, working with the Sandia Bicycle
Association, is recommending that cyclists
approaching from the west side of Wyoming
remain on that side to enter the Base. If the
cyclist will then take the bike path
immediately to the right (west) just inside the
gate and proceed south to Sandia Drive (the
street adjacent to the C-Club), it is then
possible to cross Wyoming with benefit of a
traffic signal.

D.S. Tarbox — 3400

LOU HOPKINS, retired Sandia director, is building this solar-heated home on a high hill overlooking Corrales.

RetiremBnt Project

Lou Hopkins Builds Solar Home

(Ed. Note — This is another in a series
about solar projects of Sandians. If you have an
operating system, please call LAB NEWS, 4-
1053.)

More than five years of planning went
into the new solar home of Lou Hopkins,
former director of electromechanical develop¬
ment, now retired. The house, partially under¬
ground, perches on a high hill overlooking
Corrales.

“I did a lot of thinking about a retire¬
ment project,” Lou says. “Building the house
keeps me involved. My wife and I designed it

— and I had a lot of valuable help from
friends at Sandia, technical help of the kind
you need to design a solar system, I plan to
instrument it, record data and do analyses.
Maybe do a technical paper later.”

From the driveway approaching the
house from the north, there isn’t much to see

— earth slopes gently up a rise and toward
what looks like a low concrete wall with a
chimney. The drive curves into a garage door
facade and a tunnel-like entrance.

It’s a different story from the south side
looking up the steep hill at an impressive
expanse of solar collector area.

The 557 sq, ft. collector system, covered
with translucent plastic, is made from copper
plates and tubing mounted between the
roof/wall beams. The collector plate is a
commercial item, painted flat black, with an
ingenious internal circulation system. Lou
fabricated more than 1000 copper tube fittings
to connect the 38 collector plates.

Water is the heat exchange medium, and
it is stored in three 1000-gal. fiberglass tanks
inside the house. The solar-heated water is
pumped through a “fan/coil” unit resembling
an automobile radiator. This unit warms the
air in the heat storage area, then blows it
through ducts under the concrete floor to the
rooms of the house. Air entering the system is
pulled from outside and drawn through a 60-
ft.-long underground duct. Earth temperature
remains around 60°F. so that this is a cooling
system in summer.

The entire house is virtually sealed with
only three doors and vents at the very top of
the steeply pitched roof.

All windows are double glazed; those
facing south incorporate a “bead wall.” A
blower and vacuum system fills the space
between the glass panels with plastic beads
and pulls the beads out when light is needed.

Provision has been made for a solar green
house on the south side.

During winter nights, the circulating
water is drained into the storage tanks. Lou
estimates there is enough heat storage to run
the system through three consecutive overcast
days. A back-up electric heater is installed in
one of the water storage tanks. Lou has a
conventional electric hot water heater, but
water entering the heater is pre-heated by
circulating it through a coil in one of the large
storage tanks.

Other features of the system, passive
rather than active, include the considerable
heat absorbing mass of concrete, adobe and
brick in the house. The north and east walls
are constructed from “foam-forms” —
polystyrene forms are used to hold poured
concrete and remain in place; the resulting
insulation is rated at R-22. The south and west
walls are 14-in.-thick adobe. So are the
internal walls and the main internal partition.
And then there is the underground factor.

“On paper, the engineering looks good,”
Lou says. “Next winter will be the test.”

The house has two bedrooms, contains
some 1800 sq. ft. of living area. The view from
the living room is a panorama of the valley —
the Sangre de Cristos to the north, the Sandias
to the east and the Manzanos to the south. At
night, the lights of Corrales and Albuquerque
spread out on the valley floor.

After Lou checks out the solar system he
has another retirement project in mind —
building a windmill, possibly a vertical axis
type, to drive the pump for his well and
perhaps to generate useable energy. In the
garage area, Lou has a well-stocked
workshop.

“I’ll stay busy,” he says.

Vending Machine Prices Increase

Services For The Blind is the successful
bidder for vending machine service at the
Labs. Price increases in the machines reflect
the circumstance that prices had not been
increased since July 1977. The Food
Committee reviewed and approved the recom¬
mended increase in prices and items to be
vended. Profits and losses on the vending
operation go to the Service for the Blind; the
agency has subcontracted this service to
Servomation, the largest vending service in the
city.

pH^ Bus Notes

Jeff Gammon (3741) of the Employee
Transportation Committee reports several
new developments for bus commuters. Three
new bus routes start operation Aug. 20. The
first leaves from Academy and McKinney,
travels down Wyoming and terminates at the
Atomic Museum. Arrival times at the
Museum for the buses of interest are 7:20 and
7:50; departure times are 4:40 and 5:10. Next,
a Juan Tabo/Central bus will leave from Juan
Tabo and Eubank (the streets join north of
Montgomery) at 7:10, get to Central and
Wyoming at 7:30 where Sandians may transfer
to one of the Wyoming buses. On the return
trip, employees may take either the Sandia
Wyoming specal or the new Wyoming city bus
to Wyoming and Central where the Juan
Tabo/Central bus will be waiting.

For west side Sandians, there’s a
Coors/Central bus you can catch at the SIPI
parking lot at an eye-opening 6:10 a.m. Labs
people could then transfer either at Louisiana
or Wyoming. On Aug. 17 the city is cancelling
its Comanche bus, but wilt reroute the
Chelwood Sandia special so that it starts from
Carlisle and Comanche at 7 a.m., goes east on
Comanche to Chelwood and arrives at Sandia
at 7:45.

Jeff says detailed schedules should be
available next week. Here’s fare information;
35^/single ride; a monthly commuter pass is
$11; a 22-ride punch pass is $6 (that’s lit per
ride); and tokens go 20 for $6, or 300 each.
Passes and tokens may be purchased at the
Credit Union.

Incidentally, if you have a UNM student
at home, consider the student semester pass.
It’s $28 for four months of ride-anytime/any¬
where (vs $36 for a parking permit).

Heave, Toss & Dump
Week Coming Up

It’s been said that wire coat hangers
reproduce in dark closets, and now there’s
evidence to show that the same phenomenon
occurs with paper in file cabinets, space
savers, and desk drawers. So Charlie Hines of
Records Management 3154 wants you, next
week, to come to work in a mood to purge, for
Aug. 13 to 17 is Clean Out Week.

Only records required for day-to-day
operation are to be retained in office files.
While classified documents should be
destroyed under approved procedures, most
other paper can be recycled, and detailed
instructions concerning packaging and pickup
are being distributed to each office.

Each directorate has a clean-out
coordinator to whom careful accounting
should be made of the cubic footage of paper
destroyed or recycled. The overall objective is
a 20% reduction in the file load.

Besides the paper clean-out, the
campaign is also after surplus filing and
storage equipment as well as office machines.
Instructions covering clean-out procedures
will be distributed early next week.

BIG SKY. BIG EARTH — Trail bikers cross one of the many dry lake beds in of Sandians included Death Valley, Tonopah, east sides of Nellis Range and

the Mojave Desert of California and Nevada. One-week cycling tour by group NTS. Tour started at Las Vegas, Nev.

Unusual Vacations

Trail Biking: 850 Miles In the Mojave

(Ed. Note: Have you taken an unusual
vacation? Tell us about it — call 4-1053.)

Perhaps it’s not your idea of fun: 850
miles over a network of dirt, sand and rock
trails through the Southwest’s most resolute
desert — the Mojave — capping off the
excursion with a complete traverse of Death
Valley. All in seven days upon a trail
motorcycle, a special kind of cycle offering all
the capabilities of a horse (including a some¬
times fractious disposition) without the
horse’s penchant for hay.

This is the trip (see map) completed in
early May of this year by Sandians Gary
Ferguson (2325), Bill Sullivan (4715), Bill
Boyer (4251), Mark Worstell (4715), and Jack
McCloskey (a friend). It started and ended in
Las Vegas, Nev., the group having taken bikes
there from Albuquerque by van.

What was the trip like? Says Sullivan, a
veteran rider, “Physically, it was rough. The
First day was like the first day of a week’s
skiing — you wonder if you can make it
through the week. But then you adjust and
gain a sort of equilibrium. This was a great
trip . .

A trip like this takes considerable
plannning. The objective was to make the
complete circuit over dirt roads, avoiding
private land, and thus to enjoy vast stretches
of solitude and remoteness. But a motorcycle
does burn gas, and in the planning stage it
wasn’t always clear that that speck on the map
actually had inhabitants let alone gas. (As it
turned out, two cyclists did run out of gas
because of gas lines and closed stations — in
the outskirts of Las Vegas as the trip was
concluding.)

They were methodical in their planning.

meeting months before the tour to study the
detailed USGS topographic maps of the areas
of interest. Such maps literally show every last
pretense of a road or trail, even structures, but
their accuracy, while generally good, is often
off just enough to make tentative any
preplanned route. Further, the map may bear
an issue date of, say, 1952, and thus not reflect
newer roads and trails. You come to a fork in
the road not on the map and it’s decision time,

Gary Ferguson explains how they
handled these situations: “On the open desert
it’s like navigation on the open ocean. We had
our compasses, we always knew the direction
of our objective, so we’d stay reasonably close
to the correct compass heading. We had a few
problems — once we did a hard 20 miles up a
canyon only to find it blocked with a huge
boulder. No way we could get around it, so we
had to backtrack.”

There was also a slight hangup with a
division of Army tanks. Seems that the
preplanned route took them across a corner of
Fort Irwin Military Reservation, just south of
Death Valley, which their maps said was
abanadoned. It wasn’t. And the tanks were
doing their thing with a splendid uproar, so
the bikers quickly backed off.

In early May the journey through Death
Valley was spectacular, with the wildflowers
lending added color. Temperatures
approached 100®. Their overnight stay in
Death Valley’s Furnace Creek was a highlight
— the motel had a swimming pool.

Over the seven days, the group alternated
camping out and staying at a motel. Cargo
space on a trail bike is limited, but each toted
food and water, extra gasoline, clothing,
sleeping bag and other camping gear plus an
assortment of cycle parts. Fortunately, the

MAP shows 850-mile route, starting and finishing
at Las Vegas. Entire trip was done on unpaved
roads and traiis. Circies indicate overnight stops.

latter wasn’t needed, though baggage racks on
four of the bikes gave way under the daily
pounding.

Northern terminus of their circuit was an
area familiar to many Sandians — Tonopah.
From there they went south and east to return
to Las Vegas, skirting the eastern edges of
Nellis Air Force Range and the Nevada Test
Site.

We asked about plans for future cycle
trips.

Ferguson looked at Sullivan. “You
know, Canada’s Northwest Territory has a lot
of possibilities . .

BILL BOYER (4251) and bike pause on stretch of road between Fori Irwin and
Death Valley.

JUST before taking off from Las Vegas, the five assembie for picture: (from
left) Mark Worstell (4715), Gary Ferguson (2325), Bill Boyer (4251), Bill Sul¬
livan (4715) and Jack McCloskey.

New Twist

TEN YEARS AGO as one Of
his first tasks, Zeli Terry
transpianted this paim tree,
a tiny one then, to the north
side of Bldg. 911. Both
planter and piantee have
flourished since.

The Grass Is Always Greener on

Zell’s Side of the Fence

Livermore heat is not kind to lawns. We
asked head gardener Zell Terry (8257-4) how
it is that Sandia’s lawns survive so well.
“Careful planning and hard work,” said 2^11.
“We plant a mixture of rye and bluegrass; the
rye shades and protects the bluegrass, then
dies out. And we use several soil conditioners
— they break up the soil so it can absorb
moisture — and fertilizers that provide the
nutrients grass needs to grow,”

“And how do you know how much of
each one when?” we continued.

"Forty-five years of experience,” he
replied.

“How about the hard work?”

“Keeping the weeds out. Fertilizing every
month. Watering every day — though that’s
easier now that most of our lawns are on
automatic timers.”

“Is it true that watering during the heat
of the day can scald a lawn?” we asked.
(We’re pretty naive about such things — after
all, it rains in the daytime.)

“Sure is. And watering in the evening can
promote fungi. We set the timers for early

morning, starting about four.”

* * «

About that 45 years of experience: Zell
was born and raised on soil even less
hospitable than Livermore’s — “60 miles

northeast of Amarillo” — and graduated from
Texas Tech in 1939 with a degree in horti¬
culture. “Went off to Arkansas and farmed
for three or four years, then headed for
California. Spent 10 years in San Diego as a
landscaper, then became a masonry
contractor, then a nursing home admin¬
istrator. And I always had something growing.

“1 got back to horticulture for good after
we moved up to Livermore. I’ve been with
Sandia over 11 years now — one of the finest
places I’ve ever worked. And I’m not saying
that to justify a fat raise — I’m retiring in
December or January.”

“Going to concentrate on your own lawn,
Zell?” we asked.

“No more than usual — and that’s not
much. I know how to grow a better lawn than
I grow. I am pretty proud of my fruit trees
though,

“I’m going to do some fishing and pan
for some gold, maybe even get out the dredge I
built a couple of years ago, and I'll do some
traveling. Loretta and I have been to Canada
two or three times, and now we’re talking
Alaska. Texas and Arkansas too — we still
have relatives there.

“We’ll keep busy. I’ll miss Sandia
though.”

LIVERMORE’S YOTS —
These summer of 79 Youth
Opportunity Trainees
gathered from jobs all over
the lab for this group shot.
Left to right, front: Martin
Alonso, Mike Holman;
second row: Marilyn
DeRosa, Jennifer Hines.
Trina Alviso, Steve Hamera,
Lope Varleta; beck: Genine
Winslow, Bill Dalrymple,
Andrew Turnbull. Not
shown, Dwayne Dixon.

UVERMORE l\EIA6

VOL. 31, NO. 16 LIVERMORE LABORATORIES AUGUST 10, 1979

OMBUSTION RESEARCH FACIUTi

operated fay

Sandia L^^oiies

EXPECTED Cf

■Engneer ^

^ 0ine«bfiZinov,fteifaen

fioRStnJctian Mang
toner Constructia

EVEN IF THE BUILDING
WASN’T COMPLETE, Phil
Hutchinson of AERE
Harwell found his stay with
Sandia’s combustion
researchers valuable.

British Visitor Enjoys Combustion,
California, & Cheap Gas

Today marks the end of Philip
Hutchinson’s visit to Livermore. He’s the
manager of the Internal Combustion Engine
Project and head of the Thermodynamics and
Fluid Mechanics Group at AERE (Atomic
Energy Research Establishment) Harwell in
the United Kingdom,

Although his office is at UC Davis’s
“Teller Tech” across the street, Phil has spent
much of his time with Dan Hartley (8350) and
others in Sandia’s combustion program. “I’m
here under the auspices of the International
Energy Agency — I’m currently chairman of
their combustion committee,” says Phil. “I
work at Harwell on a task similar to the one
here: the development of instrumentation for
studying the combustion process in an engine
and in a steady flame.

“Trading ideas — Sandia’s Bill Ashurst
(8354) is now at Harwell — encourages
constructive competition. That’s healthy for
both programs. I’m interested professionally
in some other areas too, such as Bill Hoover’s
(LLL) work on statistical mechanics and Jim
Wang’s (8353) computer code for predicting
how the size of particles affects their light¬
scattering ability.”

Harwell, like Sandia, is a government-
supported R&D lab funded primarily by the
UK’s DOE. About half its programs are now
non-nuclear. Phil has been with the lab since
1962. His combustion work is funded by the
Department of Industry, which supports
research likely to improve the performance of
British industry. “The DOl doesn’t demand
that we do only applied research, but they
want it to be applicable research,” says Phil.

So much for business. Phil brought along,
"thanks to Freddie Laker and his cutrate
trans-Atlantic flights,” his wife Joyce and
children Helen, 12, and Paul, 7. They lived in
Bill Ashurst’s home in Danville. “Great place
to live — especially with the community swim¬
ming pool membership that came with it. We
like California, especially the climate. We
English really appreciate sunshine,”

This is the Hutchinson’s second stay in

the States. In 1969 and 70, Phil spent 15
months at the University of Houston. He,
Joyce, and then toddler Helen also managed a
6000-mile tour of the US that included the
Southwest, California, the Northwest, and
Florida, where they witnessed the launch of
Apollo n.

US citizens tike British visitors, the
Hutchinsons have found. And the day-to-day
process of living is, they feel, easier for a
Britisher here than for an American there.
"People in shops are helpful, it’s easy to get
around (and petrol is only a dollar a gallon
here compared to about S2.40 in England), the
variety of fast-food-in-a-basket shops is
staggering (we’ve discovered Dublin and the
kids have discovered ‘Happy Meals’); the
major concern for the visitor is the high costs
of medical care. We bought a two-month
insurance policy to cover us here.

“The American visiting Great Britain
would have to adjust to grocery stores that
close by six and aren’t open Sundays. And to
fewer rent-it-here-leave-it-there cars (though
Harwell is on the 100-mph railway line
between London and Bristol). And to pubs
that typically operate from noon to 3 and
again from 7 to 11.

“And to being a year or so behind in Star
Wars toys — my son’s weakness — and in
science fiction, mine.”

Authors

Jim Shelby (8342), “Effect of Temperature in the
Pressure Dependence of Helium Solubility in Viterous
Silica/* JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS, Vol- 49,
No. 9; “Viscosity and Thermal Expansion of Lithium
Aluminosilicate Glasses/’ JOURNAL OF APPLIED
PHYSICS, Vol, 49, No. 12; “Helium Migration in
Alkali Germanate Glasses,” JOURNAL OF APPLIED
• PHYSICS, Vol. 50, No. L

Carl Melius (8341), “Electronic Properties of Metal
Clusters and Implications for Chemisorption/’ SOLID
STATE COMMUNICATIONS, Vol. 28, No. 1 .

Carl Melius and Bill Wilson (both 8341) and
Charles Bisson (8331), “A Quantum Chemical and
Lattice Defect Hybrid Approach to the Calculation of
Defects in Metals/’ PHYSICAL REVIEW B, VoL 18,
No. 4,

Solar Facility Used in Black Hole Study

The world’s largest solar energy
installation — the Central Receiver Test
Facility (CRTF) at Sandia — was recently
employed in night-time experiments to
determine if it can be used to detect the
explosion of black holes in space.

Instead of using the CRTF’s 88,800
square feet of computer-controlled mirrors to
concentrate sunlight onto receivers on the
220-foot-high tower, astrophysicists David
Fegan and Sean Danaher of University
College, Dublin, spent 14 nights using the
mirrors to focus radiation from celestial and
atmospheric events onto detectors — photo¬
multiplier tubes — mounted on the tower.

The experiments were conducted during
moonless and cloudless night-time hours to
determine whether the facility could be used
to search for exploding primordial black holes
(PBH) in space.

The subject of exploding black holes
(collapsing stars whose gravitational pull is so
strong that not even light can escape) is of
intense interest to astrophysicists and other
scientists, Fegan notes.

“Prof. Stephen Hawkins, Cambridge
University, has hypothesized that PBHs of a
certain mass — 10'* grams, which is equal to
the mass of Mount Everest packed into a
volume the size of an atomic nucleus — could
be exploding at this point in cosmological
time,” Fegan says. “These PBH’s would have
been formed at the time of the big bang about
10 billion years ago.”

“PBHs of smaller mass would have
exploded in the past, millions of years ago,
and PBHs of greater mass will explode
sometime in the future.

“The concept is of profound cosmo¬
logical importance since it involves an inter¬
play of elementary particle physics, quantum
mechanics, gravitation, and thermo¬
dynamics. The search for PBHs thus has
widespread significance.”

The terminal stages of a PBH would
involve a rise in temperature, followed by a
catastrophic explosion which liberates bursts
of high-energy gamma rays.

The total energy liberated in the emission
process and the corresponding radiation time
scales depend on the nuclear model adopted
to describe the process. The composite model
predicts the liberation of 10^’ joules. During
the final one-ten-millionth of a second of the
explosion, about 10% of the total energy goes
into gamma rays, with the spectrum peaked at
250 MeV. The elementary particle model
predicts the liberation of 10*° photons during
the final 0.1 seconds of the explosion at
energies around 5x10'^ eV. Within this energy
band, the night-sky Cerenkov technique is
particularly sensitive as a means of detection
of such explosions.

Such an explosion in space would
produce a burst of gamma rays, which would
in turn trigger a shower of secondary cosmic
rays when the gamma rays hit the top of the
atmosphere. These secondary particles speed
through the atmosphere at the velocity of
light. Cerenkov radiation emitted from the
charged shower components can be detected
against the background light of the night sky
by using sophisticated electronic photo¬
multiplier tubes with wide bandwidth
electronics.

Aided by the CRFT’s expanse of focused
mirrors, Fegan and Danaher tested a number
of different optical detectors during the
fortnight of experiments. If preliminary
results are encouraging, they plan a PBH
search using the CRFT as one of two or three
stations gathering data simultaneously.

Collaborating with Fegan and Danaher
on the project are Prof. Neil Porter, also of
University College, Trevor Weeks, of the
Smithsonian Institute, based at Mount
Hopkins Observatory near Tucson, Ariz., and
Terry Cole of the Ford Co.

Sandia participants in the project
included test engineers Larry 1 Matthews
(4713) and George Mulholland on a
sabbatical leave from the Department of
Engineering, NMSU. The facility operators
were Don Porter, Bill McAttee, Roger Aden
and Debee Risvold, all Division 4713.

VAN I — ft took a lot of doing, but the first van pool at the Labs is now undenway, operating in the North 14
and Sandia Park areas. Joe McDowell {sixth from left. 2323) got it going, operating under the aegis of the
State Employees Commuter Assn. Joe says they have 15 regular and 2 alternate members, could use a few
more alternates. He's on 4-7942 if you’re interested.

VISTA NEW MEXICO — Agricultural production In an arid state amounts to an
annual value of $204 million, according to an economic report in New Mexico
Progress. Of this, hay is the primary crop with some 300,000 acres devoted to
the activity. Annua! value is $67 million. Most of it is produced in small fields

such as this one owned by Joe Silva (2145). The farm, located along the Rio
Grande in Tom6, is part of the original Tom6 Dominguez land grant and has
been in Joe’s family for more than 200 years. He uses the alfalfa as winter teed
for his stock.

Take Note

A new north valley branch of the YMCA
is now open and registration is underway for
the following classes: karate, belly dancing,
ballet, jazz, disco dancing and conversational
Spanish. Also offered is the YMCA adult
fitness program. Classes for children include
gymnasium, preschool tumbling and a
morning preschool program. The North
Valley YMCA is located at 701 Grecian NW
(2 blocks west of 4th St. between Montano
and Osuna). For additional information call
344-3337.

« « *

Memorial — Sandians who know of
runner Anne Gilliland and her recent
accidental death (by lightning at El Vado) may
wish to make a donation to the Anne Gilliland
Memorial Fund which has been set up as a
scholarship for a female athlete to attend
UNM. Contributions should be made out to
the Fund and sent to the UNM Development
Office, 200 NM Union Bldg., Albuquerque,
87131.

Pardon us while we took as dubious as the claiins
adjusters at Metropolitan Life must have when they
read trough some of the accident reports filed by
their policy holders. "As I reached the intersection,"
wrote one, "a hedge sprang up obscuring my vision," Another
reported that ^1he pedestrian had no idea which direction to
go, so I ran over him." One motorist tried to drag in his long
years of experience with startling results: "I had been driving
my car for 40 years/' he said, "when I fell asleep at the wheel
and had the accident." This explanation seems almost
suicidal: "1 pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at
my mother-in-law and headed for the embankment." The
capper came from a very angry motorist who reported that ^Ihe
indirect cause of this accident was a tittle guy fn a small car with
a big mouth."

Events Calendar

Aug. 10 — San Lorenzo Feast Day: Acoma,
Laguna & Picuris Pueblos, 247-0371.

Aug. 10~12 — Intertribal Ceremonial, Red
Rock State Park, Gallup.

Aug. 10-11. 17-18, 24-25 — “The Boys in the
Band,” Tiffany Playhouse, Sheraton Old
Town Mercado Mall, 8 p.m.

Aug. 11 — Zapata Day Festival: mariachis,
food, theater, poetry readings, 1-8 p.m..
South Broadway Cultural Center.

Aug. 11 — Automobile Races, Speedway
Park, S, Eubank, 8 p.m.

Aug. 12 — Annual Feast Day, Santa Clara
Pueblo, 753-7326.

Aug. 12. 19, 26 — Chamber music concerts,
Cimarosa Chamber Players, 2 p.m.. Old
Town Plaza.

Aug. 14-19 — Our Lady of Belen Festival:
masses, burning of devil, parade, carnival
dances, arts & crafts show, barbeque.

Aug. 16-19 — Bosque Farms Fair, parade,
rodeo, etc., Arena Grounds, 869-6845.

Aug. 16-19, 23-26 ~ “Inherit the Wind,”
Adobe Theater, Old San Ysidro Church,
Cor rales, 8:15 p.m.

Aug. 18-19 — “Sunflower,” a play featuring
Mayor David Rusk as the mayor of a town
tormented by a sunflower. Matinees both
days, 2:15 p.m., 9:30 p.m. Saturday.
Presented by Mastermind. Tickets $2 at
door, 7:30 p.m., Kimo Theater.

Aug. 18-19 — Santa Fe Indian Market.

Aug. 24 — Old Time Fiddler’s Jam Session,
Elks Lodge Hall, Rio Rancho, 6:30 p.m.

Retiring

JIM JONES (1412)

Aug. 24-25 — “The Legend of Paula Angel”
by Tumbleweed Dance Theater; exploring
in modern dance the true story of the only
woman ever hung in N.M. Tickets $2.50 at
the door, 7:30 p.m., Kimo Theater.

Aug. 24-26, 31-Sept. 2 — Albuquerque Civic
Light Opera, “Sugar,” 8:15 p.m., Sun. 2:15
p.m., Popejoy.

Fit Is Better

Runner’s World Now More Like Runner’s Empire

Late in the 1960’s, I happened across an
issue of Runner's World, The magazine had
been in publication since 1966 and, when it
first came to my attention, RW was a slim,
chatty, informal thing with lots of references
to Bobs, Jims, and Georges, presumably
because all of RW’s readers knew all the Bobs,
Jims, and Georges. 1 had some knowledge of
the publishing world, principally the fact that
magazines survive only by dint of and by grace
of advertising, so with great prescience I
anticipated the early demise of RW. After all,
aside from shoes, what would you want to
advertise in a runner's magazine?

So I subscribed to Runner s World, as
much for reasons of compassion as for its
content. I thought I'd bolster this nice little
newsletter, at least until it faded away.

As you may have surmised by now, this is
a how-could-I-have-been-so-wrong article.
What 1 plan to deal with here is the July issue
of Runner’s World, a 144-page, four-color
extravaganza, circulation 410,000, that’s put
together by a staff of 56 people. It’s a most
professional venture and, lest you infer a
wrong intention on my part. I’m not about to
knock this glossy, flossy RW but rather to
suggest that if you run you probably should
subscribe. In most activities that have a
literature, the practitioner looks to the one
publication that’s considered definitive. For
runners, it’s Runner’s World.

Consider this partial listing of contents in
the July issue:

— Beginning running: doing it the group
way

— Can you change your stride length to
run efficiently?

— New report: Running and mental health

— The masters running movement in
America; complete masters’ age-group
records (on which more below)

— How the serious runner can avoid the
common cold

— The USA's new queen of the roads.

And much more. For example, among
the random items, this caught my eye because
I like to run in the place described on
occasional trips to Washington:

“Arlington, Va. Citing reasons of

Runner’s Index

Thanks to Sandia Medical, runners
at the Labs will now have access to
Runner’s Index, a guide to periodical
information for runners. The Index,
catalogs, semiannually, all the information
related to running in 35 periodicals. It
starts with the year 1978, and the first two
volumes have thus far been received.
Here's a sample entry under "Benefits of
Running”:

J05 TO IMPROVE YOUR PRODUCTIVITY CHARLES

AUMTZLEMAN TODAV^S jogger NQ mar 78 PP

10-^. 9-ni. 45, 56

i'AEPnOIC CAPACITY ^ATTITUDES OF RUN
NERS ^benefits of running BLODD.

CIRCULATION OF CARDIOVASCULAR
function ^creative energy DEPRESS
-ION PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS RUNNING
AND PSYCHOLOGY RUNNING AS PSYCHO-
THERAPY

Runner's index is available for
reference in the LAB NEWS office, which
also maintains a file of Runner's World
magazines*

decorum, the US Army announced
runners will no longer be permitted in
the Arlington National Cemetary.
‘Joggers are just running through there
all the time, and it doesn’t look very
good,’ said Col. Steve Dukkony ...
Army officials were especially piqued
by runners who cut through military
formations during funerals.”

Hmmm. Some runners can be pretty
dopey.

Another item, covering two pages, poses
the headlined question: “Who Has The
Healthiest Company in America?” What this
refers to is the Corporate Cup Relays.
Sponsored by Brooks Shoes and Runner’s
World, it’s an invitation to company athletes
to compete as representatives of their
companies in a variety of running events,
some easy, some tough. For example, the
“President’s Relay — Three person teams
(male or female) from the corporate hierarchy
(chairman of the board, president, VP, etc.)
run one-mile, half-mile, and quarter-mile
legs.” Funny, I just can’t visualize a running
chairman of the board.

As for advertising, the magazine’s
lifeblood, there’s an abundance. The products
are ostensibly related to running, though the
connection is sometimes tenuous. A sample:

— “Jogbra. No man-made sporting bra can
touch it.”

— “Stick it in your ear!” (a cassette recorder
that you listen to while running)

— “Build fitness safely. Let Exersentry

monitor your heart.” (a strap-on heart
monitor that gives a continual display of
your heart rate)

— “Joggers Water Belt” (a 7 oz. reservoir
worn like a belt with a tube that enables
you to partake while underway)

— “Your Pace ... or Mine?” (T-shirt with
male and female running figures)

— “Shriek Alert — Your Best Defense
Against Annoying Dogs” (an aerosol
powered noise maker. “Dogs
INSTANTLY lose their aggressiveness

Someday I’d like to see a Jogbra’d runner
trotting along, listening to that Beethoven
cassette, glancing occasionally at the display
panel which shows her heart rate while taking
a sip from the water belt, casually fending off
a pack of Dobermans with her ear-splitting
noise maker, yet all the while beguilingly
decked out in her Your Pace ... Or Mine? T-
shirt.

4t #

Something to shoot at — In this same
issue of Runner’s World, an extensive list of
Masters records has been compiled, covering
every conceivable distance. For each event,
the ranking man and women is given by
specific age; for example, in the one mile, the
ranking 57-year old is one George McRath
with a 5:04. An extract of these records is
given below; if you’re competitively minded,
this will give you some perspective of what
you’re up against. • js

PARTIAL LIST OF MASTERS RECORDS

Age 100 Yards One Mile 5000 Meters 10,000 Meters Marathon

9.6

13.6

4:21

5:24

13:45

19:17

28:33

35.50

2:14

2:47

10.5

15.0

4:32

6:31

15:31

22:20

32:30

46:17

2:27

3:04

11.1

15.5

5:18

8:08

17:42

23:22

36:16

53:33

2:47